


Even Doctors Need Someone to Take Care of Them

by tigeressdion



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Bones needs to learn how to take care of himself, Drabble, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot, Or Jim needs to do it for him, Post-Star Trek (2009), Pre-Relationship, Schmoop, Sleep Deprivation, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-20
Updated: 2015-08-20
Packaged: 2018-04-16 07:09:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4616043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigeressdion/pseuds/tigeressdion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Captain, Jim is kind of expected to sleep, eat, drink, and to admit to functioning like a normal human being. So he does, because he won't let himself fail his crew just because he was being stubborn.<br/>Bones, on the other hand, is too damn busy to sleep. Eating is for the weak. And drinking? Well, water is a limited resource for them on the ship, anyway, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Even Doctors Need Someone to Take Care of Them

**Author's Note:**

  * For [New_Heroes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/New_Heroes/gifts).



> Mainly just an excuse to write Bones being taken care of... Hope you enjoy!  
> (For New_Heroes, because I watched these films because of her.)

Jim is the Captain of a ship now, and whilst he can't be seen to be slacking off, everybody (and that is EVERYBODY) understands that he needs to get his eight hours. It's not rocket science, it's obvious. He's in charge, and if he's sleep deprived, or not eating, or not hydrated or anything like that, then it's going to effect everyone.  
So everyone makes sure that Captain Kirk is rested, fed, hydrated. (Bones does this more than anyone but nobody comments on that.)  
CMO Dr Leonard McCoy (now known to everybody as just plain Bones, or Doc to some) is, well, the Chief Medical Officer. And he's good at his job. Generally, when they're simply flying to and fro, Bones performs check ups on officers. But, every time someone enters the medical bay, he checks them in, looks them over, and then personally hands them over to another doctor. Bones orchestrates everything related to health. He organises the day for all the staff working for him, and about a thousand other things. And it's stressful, not in a dissimilar way to how Jim's job is stressful.  
However, everyone knows not to interrupt the Captain when he's sleeping, most emergencies can be handed over to Commander Spock.  
For Bones, though, there is no such luxury. Any and every emergency comes to him, no matter what he's doing or what the time is.

It takes a worryingly long time for Jim to spot the change in his friend. To tell the truth, he doesn't see Bones so much anymore; they're both so busy with their new jobs. Bones is... separate. He's not on the bridge so much, more often he's making his rounds or in his office or performing surgery.  
But when Jim does see him, a few weeks into one of their voyages, he's shocked.  
Bones is paler, he's lost his natural tan that Jim was always a little jealous of, and is instead walking the thin line between light olive and practically white. He's lost weight, looks leaner, less filled with bulky muscle than he should be. And the circles under his eyes are so pronounced, dark and shadowy and they look like they're pulling his entire body downwards. His hair's a mess and it looks as though he hasn't shaved in days (which usually is a good look on him, but looking so... well, ill, Bones just looks like he's been in an ICU for a month.)  
Jim pulls Bones aside, forgets whatever he'd been doing and looks up at his friend.  
Bones knits his eyebrows together and begins to speak. "Jim, I can't stop, an engineer got burned down in the engines and it's pretty bad-"  
"Have you already sent a doctor down there?" Jim asks, because he can't ignore a crewmember being hurt.  
"Yeah, but-"  
"Then you can stay here." Jim sighs and casts his eyes over Bones' tired, tired face.  
"When was the last time you slept?" He asks, and when Bones doesn't answer, he repeats the question as an order.  
"Couple of hours-" Bones starts, a flash of smugness on his face quickly replaced by an expression of confusion as he sways slightly.  
"And how long was that for?" Jim interrupts.  
Bones' frown deepens. "Couple of... minutes?" He says, and it's clear he's not sure himself.  
"Ah, fuck." Jim sighs again (a habit he may well have picked up from Bones.) "C'mon," he says. "I think you should go back to your quarters."  
"No, Jim-" Bones begins to protest, but the tell-tale sway that attracted Jim's attention to Bones in the first place returns. Jim has to take Bones' arm to steady him.  
"C'mon." He says again, beginning to walk Bones back the way he came. "Let's get you back, and then you're sleeping for ten- no, twelve hours."  
"Jim, dammit, I'm a-" but whatever Bones next protest was is lost as, his body evidently recognising it's being supported, he stumbles when his feet appear to give up on walking for a moment.  
"Yeah, you were saying?" Jim prompts, shit-eating grin that Bones can't see plastered on his face. When he wraps his arm around Bones' middle to support him better, Jim swears he catches a faint blush rise on Bones' cheeks.  
"What will the people think?" Bones mutters, in the dry tone that Jim didn't realise quite how much he'd been missing.  
"Ah, let them talk. You know how much people love to gossip about me." Jim returns, entering an elevator and allowing Bones to lean against a wall as he presses a button.  
"Yeah, but I'm not supposed to be a part of the rumours." Bones complains. "I'm the friend that rolls their eyes and wonders why, they stick with a moron like you, and then doesn't bother even thinking about leaving."  
"Probably because of my massive street cred." Jim says casually, eliciting a chuckle from Bones. A weary chuckle, one that sounds as though it took effort to produce, but a chuckle none the less.  
By the time they reach Bones' quarters, Jim has to admit he's a little out of breath, and Bones' continuing unsteadiness on his feet is making it more difficult to steer him.  
"You got your ID?" Jim asks him, the horrific image of having to retrace all of his steps suddenly coming to him.  
"Yeah..." Bones says distantly, looking down and reaching into his pocket with a look of extreme concentration. "I just..."  
It's after Bones' fifth try at undoing his pocket that Jim sighs again, bats away Bones' hand (causing Bones to make a disgruntled noise) and take out the ID card himself, which he then swipes on the scanner.  
"Good afternoon, Doctor McCoy." The computer says.  
"Yeah, yeah." Jim mutters, helping Bones into his quarters and guiding him to his bed.  
"There ya go." He manages, lowering Bones onto the mattress, who blinks at him blearily, as though wondering how he arrived in his room.  
Without thinking, Jim pulls off Bones' shoes, then eyes his shirt critically. From experience he doesn't care to mention, Jim knows those things aren't fun to sleep in.  
"Alright Bones," he says, sitting on the bed next to him and prompting his friend to sit up. "Arms up, that's it. Right..." he pulls Bones shirt up, and, with a few moments of struggling, off.  
Even though Jim makes the decision to leave Bones' undershirt on, it still shows a fair amount of his arms. Jim's eyes trace along the sculpted muscles of Bones' biceps before he can stop himself.  
Jim shakes his head slightly as Bones lies back on the bed, regarding him with a touch more clarity.  
"Sorry..." he mumbles, eyes flitting away, and Jim sighs once more.  
"It's fine, buddy. You got me worried, though. What's with this not taking care of yourself?" He asks.  
Bones yawns, a testament to how tired he really is (yawning is the height of unprofessionalism, after all). "No time, I guess." He says. "No one to remind me, either." Bones adds, and that tugs at Jim's heart.  
Back when they were in the academy, Jim might've lost sleep from long nights out that Bones would always escort him back from, but Bones had been just as bad when it came to studying, staying up all hours when stress and dark thoughts got to him.  
"Then I'm going to change that." Jim promises with a grin.  
Bones smiles, sleepy and unguarded. "Thank you." He says sincerely.  
"You're a member of my crew." Jim tells him with a shrug as he stands. "And you're my best friend." He pauses. "And you're-"  
Jim stops again as he sees Bones' eyelids droop, and he grins again, affectionately.  
"Get some sleep, Bones. I'll make sure someone comes and gets you in twelve hours. With a decent meal and something to drink." He says, and Bones nods very slightly, before he rolls over, curling his body up.  
Jim leaves as quietly as he can, heart thumping at the admission he almost made, the friend he's almost lost, and the change he almost couldn't stop.  
But it's fine, he tells himself. Bones will be fine, nothing a few decent sleeps and meals won't fix.  
He'll just have to have someone watch out for him.  
He'll just have to watch out for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you like it? Let me know by a comment or a kudos!  
> Find me on tumblr: no1mothmanfan


End file.
